Is love a fancy or a feeling?
I have just watched the movie Moulin Rouge for the first time, after many many people recommended it to me and were appalled that I had not seen it. It was unlike any movie I've ever seen and I'm really not sure what I thought of it yet other than that I enjoyed it and that it has made me think about love.
I am like Ewan McGregor's character, Christian, at the beginning of the movie, when he sits down at his typewriter in Paris, a hopeless romantic who hasn't the faintest idea of love. Luckily for him, an unconscious Argentinian then bursts through his ceiling. Unfortunately for me, I am stuck to ponder the idea with no one for company but my pet cat who is looking at me curiously.
Love certainly sounds, for lack of a better word, lovely. But since I have not experienced it (at least not romantic love) myself, I cannot base my opinion of it on anything but what the media tell me and also what I see my friends and family experience. And there are days when I am Christian from Moulin Rouge and the idea of love sounds so wonderful that I too could shout that love is oxygen, a many splendored thing, love lifts us up where we belong, all you need is love! And there are also days when, in that regard, I am Satine, Nicole Kidman's character, and I am convinced that love is foolish and turns perfectly reasonable people into complete and utter idiots. Usually I side with Satine.
Seriously, from what I've seen, love seems to make people put up with much more than they probably should, just because of what- some "feeling"? It's like there's some sort of almost universally accepted rule that says "well, yeah they did something stupid but I love him/her so what can I do? Oh well." It's like love is something they can't control, that you can't control who you fall in love with, and if you fall in love with a drug dealer or an alcoholic or a lazy bum, OOPS, love makes us do crazy things. UM. NO. I have criteria. I have a lot of criteria. And if you do not meet these criteria, you are the weakest link, goodbye. Done. I don't know if I buy into this idea of people locking eyes and, even though they have virtually nothing in common, rather suddenly becoming devotedly attached to one another. That doesn't happen, and quite frankly I'm not sure it should. I don't like the idea of love controlling me. If I am in love with someone, and someone else says "Why do you love so and so?", I don't want to shrug and say "Ah, who can explain the mysterious powers of love?" I want to say "He is kind, he treats me with respect, we have similar beliefs and interests, he surprises me with gifts and shows that he cares about me, we have wonderful conversations, and I enjoy being around him more than I enjoy being around pretty much anyone else in the world. Also, he's cute." Maybe that doesn't sound like something from a movie, but it sounds more like true love to me. But then again, what do I know of this supposedly mysterious crazy little thing called love?
I am like Ewan McGregor's character, Christian, at the beginning of the movie, when he sits down at his typewriter in Paris, a hopeless romantic who hasn't the faintest idea of love. Luckily for him, an unconscious Argentinian then bursts through his ceiling. Unfortunately for me, I am stuck to ponder the idea with no one for company but my pet cat who is looking at me curiously.
Love certainly sounds, for lack of a better word, lovely. But since I have not experienced it (at least not romantic love) myself, I cannot base my opinion of it on anything but what the media tell me and also what I see my friends and family experience. And there are days when I am Christian from Moulin Rouge and the idea of love sounds so wonderful that I too could shout that love is oxygen, a many splendored thing, love lifts us up where we belong, all you need is love! And there are also days when, in that regard, I am Satine, Nicole Kidman's character, and I am convinced that love is foolish and turns perfectly reasonable people into complete and utter idiots. Usually I side with Satine.
Seriously, from what I've seen, love seems to make people put up with much more than they probably should, just because of what- some "feeling"? It's like there's some sort of almost universally accepted rule that says "well, yeah they did something stupid but I love him/her so what can I do? Oh well." It's like love is something they can't control, that you can't control who you fall in love with, and if you fall in love with a drug dealer or an alcoholic or a lazy bum, OOPS, love makes us do crazy things. UM. NO. I have criteria. I have a lot of criteria. And if you do not meet these criteria, you are the weakest link, goodbye. Done. I don't know if I buy into this idea of people locking eyes and, even though they have virtually nothing in common, rather suddenly becoming devotedly attached to one another. That doesn't happen, and quite frankly I'm not sure it should. I don't like the idea of love controlling me. If I am in love with someone, and someone else says "Why do you love so and so?", I don't want to shrug and say "Ah, who can explain the mysterious powers of love?" I want to say "He is kind, he treats me with respect, we have similar beliefs and interests, he surprises me with gifts and shows that he cares about me, we have wonderful conversations, and I enjoy being around him more than I enjoy being around pretty much anyone else in the world. Also, he's cute." Maybe that doesn't sound like something from a movie, but it sounds more like true love to me. But then again, what do I know of this supposedly mysterious crazy little thing called love?